Fresh Start May Be In The Works For Juarez

January 26, 2000|By Ray Quintanilla, Tribune Education Writer.

Shutting down Juarez High School and forcing its faculty and staff to reapply for their jobs under a process known as reconstitution may be the only way to address problems that have plagued the school, Chicago School Board President Gery Chico said Tuesday.

"It has become apparent that things are not working out at Juarez," Chico said, acknowledging that the school, in the Pilsen neighborhood, has made little progress in the four months since the Board of Education ranked it among a half dozen of the system's most troubled high schools.

The board subsequently ordered the school to be re-engineered, which required Juarez to come up with an action plan to restore the school's academic viability.

But the harsher step of reconstitution now seems to be the only way to accomplish that, Chico said.

"My staff has recommended we reconstitute Juarez because there continue to be serious problems over there," Chico said during his monthly briefing Tuesday. "We as a board are going to be talking about it very seriously and maybe doing it."

Chico said Mayor Richard Daley offered him his full support should the board decide to start over at Juarez, 2150 S. Laflin St.

In the past two years, Juarez has been mired in controversy, including two grade-changing scandals.

Last fall, the local school council decided to hire its third principal in four years. The Juarez council began a search for a new principal because a four-year contract held by ousted Principal Anna Garcia Berlanga was assumed by Misael Alonso. That contract expired in January.

Juarez school council member Joe Guzman said Kelvyn Park High School administrator Carlos Collazo, who accepted the council's offer to become Juarez principal and start at the beginning of the second semester, hasn't been installed because the central office refuses to acknowledge him as a credible candidate.

Thus, Alonso continues to serve on an interim basis, he said.

"We have been cooperating and doing everything to improve the school, now all of a sudden they start talking about reconstitution, which isn't needed," Guzman said. "I have to say, however, that Chico has made it impossible for us to hire our own principal."

Jackie Gallagher, a spokeswoman for the Chicago Teachers Union, said she was surprised by Chico's comments. School officials had recently finished shaping an academic action plan to get the school back on track, she said.

"Seems rather fast to go in that direction," she said.

The prospect of letting teachers go is not in the best interests of students, Gallagher said. "There's some good teachers there," she said.